Finance Insider Column: Glazers’ stance on aborting Man United takeover at 11th hour revealed
When the Glazer family announced in November that they were seeking “strategic alternatives” in their ownership of Man United, the language was nakedly and deliberately unspecific.
While the prospect of a “sale” was raised, so too was “new investment into the club” and “other transactions involving the company.”
The grey-faced boardroom vernacular was never likely to win a Pulitzer, but the message was clear. They were sending up a flare to potential investors but stopping short of jumping in the life raft.
Now, the prospect of the Glazer family – or at least the two members with which United supporters are begrudgingly the most familiar – is very real. Could Joel and Avram really buy out their siblings in order to remain at Old Trafford?
Significantly, it is understood that American investment firm Elliott Management’s proposal is not to buy the club themselves but rather to finance a third-party deal.
That in itself is not necessarily indicative that the Glazers could use external funds to remain in situ, but the fact that three other hedge funds are reportedly interested in a similar arrangement speaks volumes.
Regardless of whether or not the Glazers hit the kill switch on a full sale, it can now be said with certainty that no deal of any kind will be concluded by the Q1 deadline that takeover brokers Raine Group initially outlined.
A source has told Football Insider that it is now “logistically impossible” – there is simply too much procedure to carry out, with interested parties yet to be given full access to the club’s most confidential financial data.
That doesn’t come as a shock. Even in November, the deadline seemed unrealistic. It is much more likely that, as Football Insider has been told by a minority United shareholder, a deal will be done by June.
That should give Ratcliffe and Jassim’s groups enough time to fully explore the costs of renovating Old Trafford, which they would have to bear if they take control from the Glazers.
Experts have repeatedly told this site that a full rebuild, which is a real possibility, could cost anywhere between £1.5-3billion.
That is likely to be one of the issues covered when Ratcliffe and Jassim’s representatives meet with United and Raine group at Old Trafford later this week.
Jassim’s contingent – which will not include the Sheikh himself – will convene in Manchester on Thursday (16 March), while Ratcliffe and his advisors’ meeting is scheduled for the following day.
It is understood that they will be furnished with the most in-depth picture of the club’s finances after this juncture, including specific details of player contracts, commercial deals, and other assets and liabilities.
Some Man United fans will hope the fact that Glazers are laying on the pleasantries for Jassim and Ratcliffe suggests that the whispers about them remaining at the club are a negotiating ploy. But that is not the case.
It is believed that the Glazers’ indecision about whether to stay or go is genuine, as opposed to a Machiavellian attempt to whip two bidders whose valuations are currently well short of the family’s own £6bn assessment into action.
The motives of the Qataris and Ratcliffe for relaying classified information about the takeover process to the media, as was revealed by this site earlier this month, are not as clear, however.
The club’s sponsorship portfolio will also be discussed at the meetings this week. United have paused certain commercial operations, such as the final stages of a hunt for a new shirt sponsor, until the end of the takeover saga.
Sources have told Football Insider that the Red Devils have previously courted commercial deals with companies such as Visit Saudi, which would surely not be endorsed by an ownership group from rival Gulf state Qatar.
That again raises the issue of state involvement should the Qataris be successful. Officially, their bid is financed privately by Sheikh Jassim, but he himself has concrete links to the nation’s power wielders.
That is particularly relevant given that the Premier League is being urged to re-examine Newcastle United’s ownership in light of the Public Investment Fund’s claims in the LIV Golf court case in the US that it is a de-facto arm of the Saudi state.
But these developments do not appear to have spooked the Jassim camp. Football Insider has been told that they are confident that the fallout from the Newcastle revelation will have no material impact on their own takeover aspirations.
Some have also suggested that Qatar’s involvement with Paris Saint-Germain could raise questions about the issue of dual ownership, which is prohibited under Uefa statutes.
But Uefa president Alexander Ceferin, who referenced United specifically in his remarks, recently appeared to suggest that the organisation’s stance on dual ownership is softening.
While Ceferin’s comments have been widely derided as naive and myopic by industry analysts, they may represent one less hurdle for the Qataris to jump in their quest to claim as their own one of the world’s greatest sporting institutions in Man United.
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